Any help with a laptop playing up?

Talk Electrician Forum

Help Support Talk Electrician Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Evans Electric

TEF LINUX ADMIN™
Supporting Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2008
Messages
23,509
Reaction score
527
Location
Birmingham
We use a Dell laptop downstairs , basically for browsing the web , Amazon etc. 

I shut it down earlier , noticed I hadn't switched the socket on for the mains supply , battery well down so switched the power on to recharge & left it to close down .

Came back  after 2 hours, the screen is illuminated slightly , which is odd so switch it on and it starts bleeping  and its hot where the fan is fitted . 

Unplugged , battery out  & back in but all it does is bleep when switched on , black screen.

 
The fan may have failed and it has overheated . Let it cool down completely , then fire it back up. 

 It may tell you it has shut down due to overheating . if it does the fan may of failed or the heatsink is faulty .

 
Count the number of beeps, then google it. It's usually a fault code to tell you what's wrong.

Blocked fan vents is a common cause of laptop overheating but that usually just shuts down and will re start when cooled down.

 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
7 beeps  , website says its a motherboard problem , load of stuff about baking it in the oven  or take back off , remove comos battery or something , count to 10 and refit it .     May bin it .

 
 There is a pill battery on the mobo, LR 44 or something replace it and see if it boots up.

The battery goes flat and the computer goes into panic mode and thinks it's the year 2000.

Most laptops are easy to dismantle a man of your stature should have no troubles, don't use a magnetised driver and keep away from polyester carpets!

;)

 
I have a Dell . I have replaced the battery , it is fiddly , but not difficult.

 Usually you get a bit of warning with the battery , the clock is usually reset when you fire it up.Or at least it was on mine.

 A couple of quid for the battery is worth a go though.

 
Some DELL lappies have an issue with a BGA chip not very well soldered and joints failing. The "cooking it" fix is to wrap it in several blankets, turn it on and leave it. I think the theory is it gets so hot it re flows the solder. Very hit or miss but it might work.
 

 
Canoeboy said:
If its the bios battery then press (f1,esc or delete - cant remember which one) on boot up and set date and time in bios, then reboot and it should boot fine, i have one that does this and its easier to set the bios date on boot than mess about doing the bios battery.
It doesn''t boot up Paddler  just sits there , black screen , going  beep  X 7 

 
If it’s any consolation my mate took DELL to court for goods as “not fit for purpose”, he won   :Salute
I've heard they are carp but see a lot of Dell stuff in offices everywhere.  

Isn't most of this stuff "generic"   like TV sets  , all using parts from the same source  ?  

Or as my wholesaler reckons ,  there are just two, possibly three manufacturers of MCBs  ...only the badging is different.

 
I had my boys Acer laptop professionally reflowed, cost I think £160 (sentimental reasons at the time). The GPU had overheated. It FAILED again 2 days after the 90 day warranty was up!

 
I printed that off  Paddler , thank you ,  there a lot more than 6 screws so different model  obviously  but same may apply .

Removed screws but can't  open it ,  I'll try again later , don't want to break it .   

 
It will depend on the model . The battery on my Dell cannot be seen , it is hidden away between the circuit boards.

 Try you tube , you will probably find a vid on there for yours.

 
Top